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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Beef Enchiladas

Okey doke, it's been about a week now and things are getting back on track. I'll never have to get my wisdom teeth taken out again. Yay! I made these enchiladas a few weeks ago when I was craving something bold and spicy. But be warned, they were a bit on the spicy side. I skipped the traditional step of pan frying the tortillas then dipping them in enchilada sauce. Instead, I simply wrapped the stack of tortillas in foil and warmed them in the oven until they were pliable. You can fill them with shredded chicken instead of ground beef (a good way to use up leftover roast chicken), or use Mexican rice instead of meat for a vegetarian version, add extra cheese, or skip the cheese entirely, it's really up to you.

This is a tomato-less chili based enchilada sauce. A lot of recipes just call for 1 chipotle chili but then I just end up with a whole can minus 1 leftover so I used three. You can even use four or five if you can take the heat. Just make sure to remove the seeds, cut the chilies open lengthwise and remove the seeds, otherwise it will be way too spicy. To store leftover chipotles, freeze them individually on a sheet tray then after they are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag. Store the adobo sauce from the can in a zipper lock bag as well. Keep the bag flat in the freezer so the sauce freezes in an even layer. This way when you need some adobo sauce, you can just break a piece off the frozen slab (much easier than trying to scoop it out of a container when its frozen solid).

In a medium saucepan, heat two tablespoons of lard (or cooking fat of your choice) over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of flour and whisk until the mixture, the roux, looks blonde. Add the chili powder and minced chipotle chilies, whisk and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in the chicken stock and water mixture and the adobo sauce from the can. Simmer the mixture until it is thick and bubbly (if it looks too thick, add some more water). Season with salt and pepper.

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the ground beef and break it up into bite size pieces. Cook the ground beef until it is browned and cooked through. Drain the beef and set aside.

Reserve about 2 teaspoons of fat in the skillet from cooking the beef. Heat over medium heat and add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Turn off the heat. Add the drained ground beef back into the onion mixture and add about a half cup of enchiliada sauce and season with some salt and pepper if needed. Set the meat mixture aside.

Wrap the stack of tortillas in foil. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and put the tortillas in the oven while it preheats. When the tortillas are warm and pliable, remove them from the oven.

Spread about a 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce on the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. Add a 1/4 C of the meat mixture and about two tablespoons of the shredded cheese to a tortilla and roll it up. Place the roll seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas and fill the baking dish. Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle cheese evenly on top. Bake in a 450 degree F oven for 15 - 20 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Serve with optional garnishes or with a side of Mexican rice.

32 comments:

I love chipotles in adobo, but with three in this dish, it must have been super-hot! Great tip about freezing the adobo sauce in a sheet and breaking off bits as you need them; I love to add a bit of the sauce (without the peppers) into many other sauces. Glad you are recovering from your dental anguish!

I love all Mexican food. This looks fantastic. I've just started a new blog as a companion blog to Thyme for Herbs. (http://thyme-for-herbs.blogspot.com) It's called An Herbal Bedfellow.(http://anherbalbedfellow.blogspot.com) I'm adding you to my blogroll. I hope you'll stop by.I'll visit again soon.

Those enchiladas look delicious, my OH has had all his upper teeth removed and he is struggling to eat at all, it doesn't help that he craves a delicious steak! never mind he can have one when he gets his dentures fitted ;-)

I made this last night, but I only used one pepper. Two may have been okay, but wow--I couldn't do three! I had a hard time scraping together 2 Tbsp of the sauce, though. Are some saucier than others??

I am a sucker for good enchiladas and these look fabulous. Just cheesy enough and I like that you used chipotles in adobo for your enchilada sauce. I like the heat, so I may try that next time I make enchiladas. Yum!

Lydia,I hope me scraping out the seeds tempered the heat but maybe the smoking when the peppers are made releases a lot of the capsaicin, I dunno. Thanks for the warm wishes Lydia. <3 :)

Hillary,Thank you!

Mrs. L,We like things really spicy too. :)

Jane Marie,Thanks for visiting!

Eric,I hope you like it.

Kevin,Thanks!

LyB,We are cheese lovers too. :D Thank you so much for the award, you are too kind!

Angela,Mm, I was craving a burger again after the second operation. Steak too!

RecipeGirl,Yeah, never have to do that again! Hooray!

Rebecca,No leftover meat this time but this would be great with shredded leftover chicken. Yum!

Sophie,*high 5*

Lisa,Sorry for responding to your comment so late. When I opened and stored my peppers, I tried my best to get most of the sauce out of the peppers so I could separate out the adobo sauce. Perhaps my can of peppers was really saucy because I got a good amount of sauce out of it.

Pam,Thank you!

Jigginjessica,I hope you try it! :)

Helen,Thanks!

Noobcook,Oh I don't mean to frighten you! I think I just had a particularly bad reaction, or maybe I'm just a big baby. I hope you are fully recovered now! <3

Lynn,I totally added more guac after I took that photo. Can't have too much of that stuff. Mmmm... :)

just wanted to say, i made these the other night for dinner. man they were yummy! totally didn't look as good as your picture- but it was still delish, and had a great kick to it! i might try them again in a few weeks with chicken!

These look so yummy and traditional! I think it's neat that the sauce is chili-based and doesn't include tomatoes :). I can smell the yummy aroma from here! We would like to feature your recipe on our kitchen recipe reader. Please email me at sophiekiblogger@gmail.com if you're interested. Have a great weekend!

I just made some lower fat chicken and cheese enchiladas and put them on my blog. Actually I've made them quite a bit, they are great. Come take a look if you have a chance and let me know what you think.